Open Ended Archives - Sean Kelly On Movies

The God of Thunder returns in Thor: The Dark World. While investigating on anomaly in London, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) comes in contact with an ancient weapon, known as the Aether, which absorbs into her body. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) arrives and takes Jane with him back to Asgard, in the hopes that his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) can help her. However, the Aether attracts the dark elf Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), who wants to use the power of the Aether to take over the Nine Realms, during an event known as the Convergence. Thor reluctantly teams up with his traitorous brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and together they set out to put a stop to Malekith’s plans. Out of all the Marvel superhero films that lead up to The Avengers, Thor was one of the trickiest, since the character, based on Norse mythology, is probably the hero that was the least familiar to mainstream audiences. The 2011 film, directed by Kenneth Branagh, worked based on the strength of Tom Hiddleston’s breakthrough performance as the villain Loki. Indeed, due to the character’s growing fanbase, Loki’s role in this sequel was actually expanded through reshoots and the character evolved into more of an anti-hero, than a full-out villain. Hiddleston steals every moment he was in and the best scenes of the film are the ones that involve Loki. As for the rest of the film, I thought that it was merely OK. As opposed to the previous film, which took place primarily on Earth, Thor: The Dark World spends the bulk of its time in Asgard. This somewhat fragments the plot, since while Thor and Jane are in Asgard, Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) are back in London investigating the anomalies. It isn’t really until the final act when these two plotlines come together for, what I admit to be, a fairly exciting climax. I have to say that I was somewhat underwhelmed by Christopher Eccleston as the villain Malekith, who is practically unrecognizable under all the make-up and digitally altered voice. Somewhat more impressive is Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Malekith’s main henchman Kurse. I also liked Idris Elba’s extended role as the all-seeing sentry Heimdall. Overall, while still OK for the most part Thor: The Dark World is missing much of what made the first film such as joy to watch in the first place. As a bit of an aside, I have to say that Marvel: Phase Two hasn’t really got to the best start for me, with me also being a bit underwhelmed by Iron Man 3. Next year we will see a new Captain America film, as well as Guardians of the Galaxy (which is teased in this film with a stinger), so I’ll wait and see how those films turn out.7 | FAIR

Thor: The Dark World

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